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The protests have seen extraordinary participation by women. Students, working professionals, and mothers accompanied by their young children have all lent their voice to the Shahbag protests, a movement spearheaded by bloggers and online activists which is seeking the death penalty for those who committed crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

An estimated 200,000 to 3 million people were killed by the Pakistani army and approximately 250,000 women were raped during the war. Local political and religious militia groups such as Razakar, Al Badr, and Al-Shams, many of whom were also members of the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami, aided Pakistani soldiers in killing, particularly targeting Hindus.

The International Crimes Tribunal was formed 42 years after the war to bring perpetrators of these terrible wartime crimes to justice. The tribunal's first verdicts were handed down against Abul Kalam Azad, known as “Bachchu Razakar”, who was sentenced to death late last month, and Abdul Quader Mollah, known as “Butcher” to the Bengalis in the outskirts of Dhaka, who was sentenced to life in prison for murder, rape, torture, and other crimes.

People have taken to the streets demanding that Mollah and other war criminals be put to death, fearing that if they are imprisoned, they may be released after a regime change.

The engagement of women and children in these protests is remarkable. Mahabub Bhuiyan [bn] wrote on Somewherein blog:

Some students of Viqarunnisa College came to show solidarity. Some of them had exams imminent. They did not let any one go, they engaged in sit-in protest and opened their book to study. They studied and shouted slogans intermittently.

Writer and journalist Abu Hasan Shahriar [bn] shared in a Facebook status his experience visiting the Shahbag protests on the second day:

It was 1:30 at night. I saw a young girl walking towards the square holding her mother's hand. There were slogans from the speaker, “We want capital punishment for Kader Mollah”, and the girl would join in, “we want.. we want..”

Shouting slogans all day didn't crack my voice. It did not seem like I am doing it for the first time. In 1971, my parents came to the streets, today we came, victory will be ours. I want to give my child a Razakar-free Bangladesh. Joy Bangla.

One day I will come with my child to Shahbag and will tell him or her – this is the street where your mother protested, demanding capital punishment for Razakars.

In Shahbag, many girls have led youth protests, one of them being Lucky Akter. Her powerful slogans have mesmerized the crowd, but cohorts of the Islamist party Jamaat-Shibir, to which the war criminals belong, are spreading ill things about her on Facebook. She wrote in a Facebook [bn] status:

Those who are speaking ill about me, please listen. We have taken the street not to protest against any religion. Even Madrassa students are joining the protests. Religions are for individuals, but the state is for everybody. We have to shut down Jamaat-Shibir's politics of religion.

Those who joined in the Shahbag protests, I salute them a thousand times. I salute those children who are shouting slogans with their mother. I salute those women who are working in the office all day and going to the protests in the evening after taking care of the family. Your presence and eloquence have increased our strength and courage.

The ”’Shahbag Protest of 2013 in Bangladesh”’ is a gathering of
some thousand protesters in the Shahbag area of the capital city of
Dhaka, Bangladesh, that began on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, with the demand of capital punishment for Abdul Quader
Mollah and the other accused war criminals of the 1971 Liberation War of
Bangladesh, in general, but due to confusion regarding leadership (even
though the ruling party, Awami League, claims the protest as their own,
many have joined the protest who don’t support any particular political
party and are unaware of the complicated legal and/or constitutional
provisions and procedures involved), the specific demands of the
protesters and how to achieve them are not yet clear and is a popular
topic in the media, the talk shows and the academia.

Legal Issues

It is not a protest about bringing the accused to trial but a demand
for some specific punishment. It still remains to be clarified as to how
it is that the protesters want the government to influence the verdict
of a court, how it is that a court can be bound by some pre-decided
non-judicial verdict, or whether being accused itself is a sufficient
criterion for guilt. The government has promised to start fresh trials
with provisions for death penalty of the accused this time, but this
gave rise to further concerns among the intellectual circles of
Bangladesh as to why the initial trial was not conducted under such
provisions. A second trial would conflict with the basic principle of
law that a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense. For some, a
more viable option that is left is for the prosecution to appeal to
superior courts, and wait for the judges there to take the sentiment of
the protesters into account. Nevertheless, even that would be a matter
of time, and many are finding it difficult to ascertain as to what could
immediately be offered to the ongoing protests.

Historical Context and Development of the Protest

Abdul Quader Mollah was charged with abetting the Pakistani army and
actively participating in the 1971 atrocities in Bangladesh. In 1973,
he, along with others, was pardoned as part of a general amnesty issued
by the Awami League government at that time, headed by Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman due to legal complexities surrounding the issue regarding
evidence and problems of retrospectivity. After forty years, the present
Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina resumed the trial of some
of the accused by setting up a special tribunal, naming it the
International Crimes Tribunal, to win back the support of the public
amidst massive dissatisfaction regarding Awami League rule since 2009.
On February 5, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh
sentenced Mollah to life in prison after he was proved guilty in five
out of the six charges against him. Within hours of the verdict, an
online community, Blogger and Online Activists Network (BOAN), whose
activity has been praised by the present government, successfully
managed to publicize its event to protest the verdict, to be held at
Shahbag, primarily with the help of the social networking site Facebook.
Initially members of the Chhatra League, the student wing of Awami
League started the protest, but soon was joined by many neutral people
who wanted revenge for the 1971 war time activities of Jamaat e Islami,
and also by passive, curious observers, or those who just wanted to be a
part of an important event, never mind its agenda, after the mainstream
media covered the protest at Shahbag nationwide through the TV
channels, with statements such as “the nation is getting united in the
manner of Tahrir Sqaure”. The protest has continued since then.

Views About the Protest

Opinions vary regarding motives, the method and the outcome of the
protest. In Bangladesh, there are many who are supporting the protest
strongly, many of whom are ordinary citizens, while many are also
supporters of Awami League. Those who do not want the government to
hijack the protest for their own purposes have tried to prevent
government officials from speaking in the protest. But government
supporters are also active and have physically injured a female
protester for trying to prevent a government official to speak in the
protest.

The second group of people are supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, who are
openly denouncing the protest as a plot instigated by the ruling Awami
League to neutralize political opponents and to divert anti-government
sentiments before the coming of the next general elections. They are
affirming their democratic right to participate in politics, which, many
protesters believe, they do not have. They claim that the initial
tribunal set up by Awami League was not fair enough, proven by the
abduction of defense witnesses by law enforcers, and the sensitive
information regarding the trial process leaked when a Skype conference
of the chairman of the tribunal went public. They claim that their few
central leaders have been accused retrospectively for crimes committed
by many localized individuals during the 1971 wars. They also claim that
the passing of the life sentence in the initial trial was intentional
and influenced by the government, as a protest supporting government
cause was what the government wanted most to achieve from it, which
would eventually enable them to achieve not only the elimination of
political opposition, but also to show public support for it, as well as
to neutralize massive anti-government sentiments that arose during
their rule since 2009. They claim that the breadth and scope of the
protest are being highly exaggerated and publicized by elements of the
government, and some have even threatened the government with civil war.

A third group of people have appreciated the spirit of the protest,
but believe that singling out only the capital punishment of the
criminals of 1971 among hundreds of other issues bothering the country
today would be an immature policy to adopt and would only benefit the
cause of Awami League, when in reality the major cause of the crisis in
Bangladesh today are the activities of the two political parties. They
believe that all issues haunting the country should now be put together
and the energy channeled towards a real change in national politics.

International coverage

Since 2009, under Awami League, Bangladesh has suffered some
downturns in international relations, and it is yet to be seen how the
international community reacts to the protest at Shahbag. Till date,
international media has tried to cover the situation in Bangladesh and
Shahbag through a more neutral perspective compared to local media.

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It’s a government backed movement to protest the opposition parties of Bangladesh especially ‘Bangladesh Jamaate Islami’. All the protesters are the supporters and activists of the ruling party ‘Bangladesh Awamileague’ and its allying parties. The protesters are getting money, food, water,shelter, protection, patronisation and media coverage directly and indirectly by the government. It is like a drama staged by the ruling party and its allies. Its never a pro people movement and never a movement of overall people.